Auto-playing videos are everywhere on the modern web. They take up bandwidth, make a lot of noise, and slow down your Chrome browser, all without you ever choosing to watch them. Here’s how to stop them for good.

In the most recent update, Google Chrome 66 included the ability to block these autoplaying videos, most of which are based on HTML5. Chrome would remember which sites you stopped an autoplaying video on, and subsequently block those sites from serving such videos to you. But Chrome developers removed this because it conflicted with browser-based games.

While it’s likely that Google will reintroduce this in future Chrome updates, for now, you need a workaround. Deep in the settings of the Chrome browser, you can find options to switch off autoplaying videos.

The developer is quite clear about saying that he is no longer working on this extension since Google is now trying to tackle the problem itself. While Chrome 66 had to roll back that feature, this is on Google’s to-do list.

Still, the extension works well for now, so if you would rather not change Chrome’s settings, use it. When a stable version of Chrome can disable autoplaying videos by default, uninstall the extension.

How to Stop Autoplay Videos on Chrome Mobile

On Chrome for Android, things work a little differently. You don’t need to dive into the Chrome flags to change this option, it will work through the regular Settings.

Tap the three-dot Menu icon.

Go to Settings > Site Settings > Media > Autoplay.

It will be set to “Allow sites to automatically play muted videos (recommended)” with a blue toggle. Tap the toggle to turn it grey, and the text under it should read “Blocked”.